Emmanuel Macron confronts Vladimir Putin

FOR a republican country, the welcome could scarcely have been more royal. Exactly 300 years after a young Louis XV hosted Peter the Great at the Chateau de Versailles, on a trip to admire French imperial splendour, France’s new president, Emmanuel Macron, chose the same setting for talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. The gold leaf on the palace shimmered in the spring sunlight. Plume-helmeted guardsmen lined the red carpet as Mr Putin stepped from his limousine. But if the symbolism on May 29th was friendly, the meeting itself hinted at an inner steeliness to the 39-year-old French president and diplomatic novice.

After two hours of talks, Mr Macron described the encounter as “extremely frank and direct”, which is as close as diplomatic jargon gets to admitting that things were tense. With Mr Putin standing by his side, in the centre of the chateau’s long gallery of paintings depicting glorious French battles, Mr Macron warned that his “red line” in...Continue reading

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